Stealing Spree

Thanks to Yukari’s help, she successfully cleared my mind… Even clearer than yesterday. And by giving me this new outlook on this new appearance as well as the excessive attention that I couldn’t help but get conscious of, it allowed me to reach the school mostly unbothered.

Well, there were still unavoidable encounters that I had to deal with. Persistent ones wouldn’t just up and vanish just because I hoped so. I mean, even my girls still dealt with those who were taken in by their appearance. Unlike me who had just started being noticed by a lot of people, they’re already too used to it.

After passing by the school gates and greeting Eguchi-sensei, I got stalled for a few seconds when I was about to change into indoor shoes.

Inside my shoe locker, a distinct pink envelope with a heart-shaped sticker used as a seal was placed on top of my shoes.

Yep. This was the fad that could always be seen in school-setting anime, TV series, or movies. Novels and manga also had them. It’s an interesting plot point, after all.

The infamous love letter.

But really? Because of the descent of the digital age, giving someone a handwritten love letter was believed to be extinct in real life.

Although there are still some who would write something to call someone out after school, that scenario was also slowly dying out when you could just search the person on social media and send a message.

Uh… what should I do with this?

Before picking that up, I checked my surroundings. More often than not, the one who wrote the love letter would linger in the background to make sure that the sender read it.

After spending a few seconds doing that, it turned up with nothing…

“Well, this can be a story I can tell my girls. They’ll definitely be amused.” I muttered to myself as I picked that love letter.

Opening it and taking out its content, I noticed that the paper used was rather special, it exudes a refreshingly sweet, fruity scent.

Looks like the one who made it paid attention to detail, huh?

I couldn’t help but shake my head. For someone to decide on sending a love letter a day after I showed up with this new look, that someone was probably too naïve or just… straight-up stupid.

It sounds harsh but that’s how I see it.

Anyway, unfolding the paper to read its contents, I instantly got put off by the first line.

“To Onoda-kun whose cold, piercing gaze successfully subdued my rebellious heart, may you have a good morning…”

How exaggerated was that? I almost thought Elizabeth slipped into our school to pull this prank on me.

But thinking about it, that girl would be more excessive than this. It would be like an ancient scripture that needed time to decode what she was trying to say.

Anyway, continuing…

“As you can already guess, this one has written this letter to devotedly express my admiration of your princely appearance.”

At every word that I read, I could feel my temple throbbing and my lips twitching from how awkward it was. The whole content was clearly an exaggeration of whatever interaction I had yesterday with the sender.

I skimmed through it without changing my expression before pausing at the closing paragraph to see if the one who wrote it put down their name.

However, I didn’t find a name or even initials that could point to the sender. Furthermore, there’s also no request to meet on the roof, behind the gym, or under a miraculous tree that was shrouded in superstition.

It’s just a letter that the sender used to express an exaggerated admiration towards me…

I mean… What's the point of a love letter without asking me out to confess? Or could I still call it a love letter? It’s more fitting to call it an admiration letter.

Whether it’s just an elaborate prank or the stupid sender wanted to remain mysterious, I couldn’t care less. The sender failed to pique my interest.

Not that I would be interested in the sender if they asked me to meet or there’s a name written on it. My curiosity about the first love letter I received took over my mind.

A while later, after flipping it a few times to check if I missed something… I tucked the letter into my bag and quickly put on my indoor shoes to continue on my way to our classroom.

-

-

Upon entering the classroom, I went straight to my seat after greeting those who greeted me back. Compared to yesterday, the attention to me was already reduced. Like I thought, the impact of seeing me with a new look was only highlighted during the first that.

But if there’s one thing that changed… It's how some of our classmates whom I never exchanged words with for two months started acting friendly around me.

It’s not a bad thing but if I have to act amiable to all of them, I predicted that I might hurt my jaw from forcing a smile all the time. That’s why I simply acted the same way as before with the exception of being open in my interaction with my girls.

Especially with Aya… Because of the extra attention that I got, everyone already noticed that I was extremely close to the girl. Although our topic of conversation was always about the book she read and some other interesting things that I brought up to make her laugh, our closeness couldn’t be denied when I would occasionally grab the girl’s hand or pat her head affectionately.

Wakaba and Kashiwagi were ecstatic about it. But when they saw me also doing the same thing with Nami and the others, they became frustrated enough to approach me with the intention to bring my focus back on Aya.

Although I found them as a great friend for Aya, meddling directly like that felt a little excessive.

Well, no harm done anyway so I simply brushed it off.

“A love letter… And it’s presented meticulously at that. Ruu, are you sure you don’t know who sent this?” Nami asked as she inspected the letter that I received earlier.

At the moment, we’re in the empty clubroom and have just finished eating our lunch. Bringing it up as the topic, the girls instantly got worked up at the mention of it.

And now, they’re crowded together reading the contents of it.

Well, it’s quite rude to the sender to show the letter to other people but… these girls are my lover. They’re not just ‘other people.

While Nami raised that question, Satsuki was frowning at it while occasionally glaring at me as though she was looking at a hopeless idiot. Aya, on the other hand, was taking notes. She’s writing every exaggerated phrase used on it or that’s how it appeared. I had no idea what she was going to do with it.

As for Hina, Saki and Chii, they’re all laughing at its content yet their eyes were shining with amazement. Most likely, they also admired the guts of the one who wrote it.

“Well, as you can see, there’s no sender and there’s not even a request to meet. It’s more apt to say that it’s not a love letter. I thought you’ll all be interested in it so I brought it out.” I answered.

Hearing that, Nami showed a meaningful smile, “Normally, you’ll be the enemy of many girls if you so easily shared the love letter she wrote. But because there’s no name or anything else that points to her identity, it’s fine. Besides, this piqued our interest. Can we search for the sender? It sounds fun.”

“Wait. What for?”

“Simple, we’re curious about the one who got so taken in by you that she instantly wrote a love letter a day after your transformation.”

“And?”

“Look at you, did you hit your head somewhere? There’s no other reason. It only sounds fun…”

‘Nami, I will be convinced that it’s fun if not for that menacing smile.”

Right, she looked like she was going to devour the sender if she ever located them. And not just her, Satsuki was already crunching her knuckles.

“Oh, this? This is just my excitement boiling up to my face.” Nami stretched her lips further, replacing that menacing smile with a teasing one before standing up.

As I watched her traverse the short distance between us, the phone I place on the table suddenly vibrated furiously.

Someone was calling me. I promised to call Yue but I already did that earlier. Furthermore, I also finished checking in with Akane and the others from the other school.

Since it could be an emergency, I couldn’t just dismiss it.

At the same time as I received Nami on my lap, I picked up my phone and checked.

“Unknown Number…” I muttered upon seeing that the caller ID wasn’t registered on my phone. Who could this be?